Internal-combustion engine.



W. H.811. F. PALMER.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGlNE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.12.1915.-

Pmwnted Sept. 19, 1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

WITNESSI W. H. & J. F. PALMER.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

- APPLHlATlON FILED AUG.12.I915. 1 19 54, PatentedSept. 19.1916.

3 SHEETS SHEET 2.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented Sept. 19, 1916.

W. H.&1. F. PALMER.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.12.1915- INVENTORS ATTORNEY WITNESSI WILLIAM H. PALMER AND JAMES F. PALMER, OE

JAMES F. PALMER ASSIGNOR TO SAID WILLIAM H. PALMER.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1916;

Application filed August 12,1915. Serial No. 45,117.

To all whom it may concern: 4

Be it known that we, WILLIAM H. PALMER and JAMES F. PALMER, citizens of the United States, and residing in the city of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and- State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements 1n Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention comprises certain new and useful improvements in internal combustion engines, relating particularly to the valve mechanism of the same. a

The object in view is the provision of a more efficient mechanism which will insure POSltlWi, economical and substantially noiseless action', result in material reduction in the number of parts used therebyworking a great economy in cost of manufacture and upkeep, may be readily taken apart and replaced when necessary, but will not require adjustment while being used. jects are attained by the use of an improved rotary valve mechanism which controls the introduction of the fuel charges into the cylinders and the expulsion of the products of combustion from the same, these operations being properly timed to explode the charges in the various cylinders of the engine in the predetermined order.

Numerous novel features of structure and arrangement of parts will appear from the following description. c

In the accompanying drawings, which are intended merely to illustrate a practical embodiment of the principles of our invention and not to limit the scope of the latter to the construction shown, Figure l-is a cross section of one of the engine cylinders taken along the line I'I in Fig. 5, show-' ing a cylinder, its ignition and valve mechanism and its piston having begun the suc tion stroke; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing a piston having begun its compression stroke; Fig. 3 is a similar view showing a piston having begun its explosion stroke; Fig; 4is a similar view showing'a piston having begun its scavenging stroke;

Fig. 5 is alongitudinal vertical section of a' four cylinder engine embodying our. 1nven Y tion taken along'the line VV in Fig. 1;

. the valve bushing sented' by A A A These ob- PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA; sAIn' Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the same taken along the line VIVI in Fig. 1; Fig.

7 1s a perspective of thevalve body dismounted; Fig. 8 is a broken perspective of dismounted, and Fig. 9

is a diagrammatic front elevation showing a twin cylinder type of engine fitted with our invention. 7

Referring first .to the longitudinal cylin-' de'r type of engine illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, the four cylinders are repreand A provided with pistons B B B and B The cylinders are shown fired in the usual order in a-four cylinder engine, viz., A A A and A but it will. be understood that any order of firing may be adopted as desired. For the sake of illustration we have shown the cylinders cast en bloc but-the same may-be cast in pairs or individually and suitably connected together, as may be found desirable. 1 is the ignition means or spark plug. Through the head of the cylinder casting or castings a cylindrical bore C is provided which acts as a horizontal rotary valve seat, which bore is connected with the compression chamber of each cylinder by means of a cylinder port 2. One end of the valve seat C is closed, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, while the other end of said seat is open;

D is the fuel manifold formed in the cylinder heads, parallel with and preferably on the same horizontal plane with the valve seat C. Said manifold is closed at both ends and provided with a central port 3 for connection with the carbureter or other source of fuel, not shown.

horizontal width connects the manifold D with the valve seat C. Said fuel ports 5 expand vertically toward the manifold D to the vertical diameter of the latter,'as shown in Fig. 1..

E is the exhaust manifold secured to the cylinders in the usual maniier and connected to the valve seat C by means of ports 6'diaequal dimensions at the valve seat. Said metrically opposite to each port 5 and of p ports 6 contract horizontally and expand vertically toward the manifold to a circular cross section, as shown in Figxl.

1n the drawings, the ports 5 and 6 at the valve seat are vertically 4-15 degrees of the circumference of the valve seat, 22% degrees on either side of the horizontal axis, while the cylinder ports are 60 degrees in extent, degrees on the intake or fuel side of the vertical axis and 37. degrees of the exhaust side of said axis. By thus ofi centering the cylinder ports toward the ex haust ports, we are enabled to open communication between the cylinder port and the exhaust port when the piston reaches a point at 30 degrees above the lowermost position of the crank, thus preventing jarring or hammering at the completion of the explosion stroke.

F is a cylindrical bushing, having its inner end closed, and snugly fitting in the valve seat C. To prevent rotation of said bushing in said seat, the former is provided with radial fins 7 which seat in recesses 8 in the wall of the valve seat. The Wallof the bushing is provided with cutaway portions of equal size and registering with the ports in the valve seat, the bushing acting as alining for the valve seat to take up wear and to be removed and replaced when worn.

G is a solid rotary valve body of cylindrical cross section, fitting snugly inthe bushing F and provided with a valve port 9 for each cylinder. The valve ports are cut into the body of the valve body for an arc of 135 degrees. Said ports are cut in the vertical plane of the cylinder, fuel and exhaust ports of each cylinder, and in a four cylinder engine, the center line of one of said valve ports is 90 degrees in advance, clockwise, of the center line of the valve port of the cylinder fired last preceding the cylinder of the first named valve port. Thus in Fig. 7 the center line of the first valve port to. the left is 90 degrees in advance of the center line of the second valve port, shown in dotted lines, said second valve port being 90 degrees in advance of the fourth valve port, while the fourth valve port is 90 degrees in advance of the third valve port, and the third valve port is 90 degrees in ad Vance of the first valve port. In other words, the valve port of any given cylinder is 90 degrees in the rearof the valve port of the cylinder fired next before the first named cylinder and 90 degrees in front of the valve port of the cylinder fired next behind the first named cylinder. Where the order of firing is different from that stated above, the order orprogression of the valve orts around the circumference of the valve ody will be, of course changed from that shown. In the case of a six cylinder engine, the circumferential spacing of the valve ports from center to center will be 60 degrees.

In a twelve cylinder engine said spacing will be 30 degrees from center to center.

The outer end of the valve body G protrudes from the valve seat and bushing and is of reduced diameter, as at 10, to extend through the flanged bearing sleeve 11, attached to the engine, and its antifriction lining or bushing 12.

13 is a-gear or sprocket chain casing extending up over said'bearing, and 14 is a gear or sprocket wheel keyed on the end 10 of the valve body within said casing and by means of which said valve body is'rotated clockwise at half the speed of the crank shaft of the engine whereby'said valve body turns 90 degrees with each stroke of the pistons.

H represents the water jacket of the engine, cast integrally therewith or otherwise formed, surrounding the upper portions of the cylinders and extending through the head of the engine about the valve seat and the fuel manifold, as shown. Above the valve. bore the .interior height, and consequently the. capacity, of the water jacket enlarges toward the water outlet port 15.

16 is the water inlet port adjacent to the bottom of the water jacket to obtain a natural upward flow of the water as it becomes heated, the enlarging of the capacity of the Water jacket facilitating the escape of the heated water.

17 is a longitudinal web or partition dividing the water,jacket above the valve bore into two compartments communicating together adjacent to the outlet 141, as shown in Fig. 5. Thus a better distribution of the cooling fluid in the head of the engine is obtained and thevalve body and its seat are kept from overheating. The web also strengthens the casting and reinforces the valve seat.

'18 represents ports bored down through the web 17 at either side of each of the cylinders extending through the valve seat C and the bushing F, the lower ends of said ports at the inner wall of said bushing being flared or beveled, as at 19 to facilitate the lateral distribution of lubricant between the bushing and the valve body. Oil or grease cups, not shown, may be screwed into "the upper ends of said ports 18. The right hand end port 18, beyond the web 17, may be carried through the water jacket by means of a tube 20.

21' is a horizontal passage bored through the cylinder casting beneath the web 17 and intersecting the ports 18. If cups are not to be mounted on the upper ends of the ports 18, the same may be plugged and a forced oil feed connected to the passage 21, one

endof said passage being open for such attachment, while its other end is closed.

- end maybe plugged.

When the passage 2l is not in use, its open Referring now to Figs. 1,2,3 and 4,

wherein thefour strokes of a piston of a four cycle engine are illustrated in their order, the operation of my 1nvention,'as illustrated, is as follows: At the beginning of the lower edge of the fuel port 5 and the pistons Fig.

position is indicated by thedotted line b in Fig. 1. As the piston begins its downward travel, as shown in- Fig. 1, the fuel port 5 is gradually exposed and the valve port 9 connects said fuel port withthe cylinder port 2, so that fuel is sucked into the cylinder during the piston stroke. During the descent of the piston, the valve body G rotates 90 degrees, finally cutting off the cylinder port from the fuel port, and thus sealing the compression chamber ofthe cylinder. Fig. 2 shows the pied just after it has begun its next or compression stroke, during which the cylinder port 2 remains closed so that the charge previously sucked into the cylinder is compressed. As the piston begins its descent on the next or firing stroke, the ignition means 1 operates and the charge is fired, and as the valve body still closes the cylinder port, 3, the force of the explosion is exerted against the des'cending'piston until the same is within 3O degrees of the lowermost position of the crank, when the valve body has turned sufficiently to cause the valve port 9.

to connect the cylinder port 2 with the exhaust port 6, thereby relieving the explosion pressure in the cylinder and preventing jarring or hammering at the end of the stroke. As the piston rises on the scavenging stroke, Fig. 4, communication between the exhaust valve and the cylinder port is maintained, until the piston reaches substantially the top of its stroke, when the operation described in connection with Fig. 1 is repeated.

In Fig. 9 we have shown our invention applied to a multiple cylinder engine of the twin type, wherein the cylinders are arranged in pairs transversely alined. The cylinders are represented by A and A, and their pistons by B and B, respectively. The valve seat G with its bushing F is located between the pair of cylinders. lVhile the two cylinders are in the same vertical plane at right angles to the rotary valve and its seat, the respective cylinder ports, 2 and 2", connect in tandem with the interior of.the valve seat and its bushing, so 'that the valve ports are also in'tandem on the valve body and spaced circ'umferentially to give the necessary progressive operation of the two cylinders dictated by the firing order adopted for the engine, as above described. The

piston in the position occuterclockwise, the fuel the position of exhaust ports, and vice versar105 fuel ports, 6 and 6", and 5 and 5*, respectively, are the same relative to their respective cylinder ports, as described in the previous figures. The cylinder ports are shown carried into the valve, seat'from opposite sides, thereby shortening the length of said ports.

Wherea single rotary valve mechanism, as shown 1n Fig.

9; is used for a twin cylinder engine, said valve mechanism may be placed in the location shown relative to the cylinders or, the same may be placed at any angle or location relative to the cylinders by changing the angle ofthe cylinder ports connecting the cylinders with. the valve body From the foregoing it is evident that a very substantial reduction in engine parts is reduced and the cost of manufacture cut down materially. There are no parts to get out of adjustment and requiring constant attention, as where puppet valves are used,

and the absence'of chattering of the valve parts renders the operation of the engine 5 volved in either direction, and either in the direction-of or contrary to the direction of rotation of the crank shaft of the engine. \Vhere the valve body is to be rotated counports would occupy lVhat we desire to claim is- 1. A valve for an internal combustion engine comprising a valve seat having a plurality of ports, a tubular bushing provided with a plurality of ports said bushing 1 10 adapted to be inserted into the seat. coacting means arranged within the seat and on the bushing to positively register the ports when the bushing is inserted into the seat, and a ported valve body arranged within said bushing adapted to control the various ports in the seat and bushing. 2. A valve for an internal combustion engine comprising a valve seat having a plu- I rality of ports, with a plurality of ports said bushing adapted to be inserted into the seat, grooves arranged within the seat and radial fins on the bushing adapted to positively register the ports when the latter is inserted into the 125 seat, and a ported valve body arranged with in said bushing adapted to control the various ports in the seat and bushing.

position of the exhaust and 65 the use of our invention, and therefore the weight of the engine is greatly 85 prevents undue expansion 95 a tubular bushing provided in the seat and bushing when the latter is 10 inserted into the seat, and a ported rotary valve body arranged Within said bushing adapted to control the various ports in the seat and bushing.

Si day of August, 1915.

, WILLIAM H. PALMER.

JAMES F. PALMER.

gned at Pittsburgh, Penna, this 11th 15 

